Philipsburg:--Member of the Island Council Maria Buncamper-Molanus, after much persistence and exchange of words on the floor of the Island Council between herself and the Commissioner responsible for Labour affairs, finally received answers to several questions posed on August 20. During the last meeting of the Island Council, October 2, the Council lady expected to receive these answers as they were relevant to the topic being discussed and because she had repeatedly reminded the Executive Council that the answers were still pending. After intervention by the chairman of the Island Council, Mr. Franklyn Richards, the answers were provided.
On August 20 of this year, she said she posed, several questions to the Executive Council to which answer were provided on Friday October 2 2009. These answers revealed the following:
Council lady Maria Buncamper said that for the first 7 months of this year, January to July 201 requests were submitted for dismissals. Of those requests, 140 were because of economic reasons while 61 were for personal reasons. However, of the 201 request for dismissal, 48 were withdrawn by the employer and 51 were not valid based on incomplete information being provided. The bottom line is that 102 valid job dismissals either have been processed or are being processed. This says nothing about the current situation as we are now already in October.
335 persons are registered as unemployed at the labour department up until July 2009, while last year for that same period 256 persons had registered for work. So up until July of this year one can conclude that unemployment has increased, although these are not official unemployment figures. Buncamper-Molanus stated that officially unemployment figures, which also include persons not legally registered on the island, are provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics and are usually available a year later. Nevertheless, the 31% increase in persons registering for work clearly indicates a trend that unemployment is on the rise.
What is peculiar and worthy further investigation is the drop in the amount of persons on the social welfare list to 744 for the period January to July 2009 compared to 812 during the same period last year. This equals an 8.3% decrease.
The amount paid out for social welfare up to and including August 2009 is Fls. 2.613.157,--.
The former Commissioner of Economic Affairs explained, that in order to compare last year’s actual expenditures for social welfare a comparison is made of the period January to July; in 2008 the Government spent Fls 2.502.022, -- on social welfare , while this year for the same period the Government has spent Fls 2.314.597,--.
So while more persons are looking for work, fewer people are registering for financial assistance from Government and the amount for financial assistance being paid to unemployed persons has decreased. It is rather strange, says Council lady Maria Buncamper; perhaps government’s financial situations, in particular it’s liquidity position that the Executive Council has been mute about, is influencing this development. It is important for the Executive Council to be forthcoming with this information, albeit to avoid any speculations, or moreover to ensure that people who in fact need assistance are encouraged to apply for such. After all Government’s 2009 budget has an amount of Fls 4.7 million reserved for social welfare assistance and this amount does not include the Fls 3 million also reserved for supplementary pension.
“Finally we were informed that of the 1773 request received for work permits this year up until July 2009, the top 5 most frequently requested positions to be filled by foreign employees are: Managers, Maids, Security officers, Teachers and Cleaners”: concludes the DP Council lady Maria Buncamper.
It is the hope that the Executive Council will now not just put the information provided to the Island Council as a result of the questions posed, beside them, but use the information as they deal with the current labour situation on St. Maarten.
